July 4th

Noteworthy: Jefferson’s Thoughts on Religious Freedom

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Thomas Jefferson’s tombstone

Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence are in the foremost of my thoughts this week as I take a moment to exhale and pause to note the change of seasons.  I want my home to reflect the important occasion – our nation’s birthday on the 4th of July – and so I have purposely delayed the inevitable daily deluge of tasks to “spruce up” our place.  (More details forthcoming).

Doing so allows my mind to wander, think, and reflect.  How fitting it is that this week, in particular, the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the right of “closely held” companies to religious liberty would come down.  Most tout the decision as good for religious freedom – and rightly so.  But I can’t help but wonder why just “closely held” companies?  Is America not founded on the proposition that all men are created equal – their equality existing in each’s equal, natural rights bestowed by The Creator?  If this is the case, why would the “number” of equal souls matter?  Is the right of religious freedom contingent on a number – an “if-then” scenario?  If so, who gets to determine the threshold – “the number”?

Worth noting are the three accomplishments for which Jefferson wished to be remembered on his tombstone:  (1) author of the Declaration of Independence; (2) father of the University of Virginia; and (3) author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.  Conspicuously absent was his service as the 3rd President of the United States.  Drafted in 1777 yet not adopted until 1787, the law states:  “That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical; . . . the opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction;”

In response to a query about the Declaration of Independence near the end of his life, Jefferson wrote:  “This was the object of the Declaration . . . to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent . . . it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.”

Perhaps the foundational principles of civil and religious liberty are still an expression of the American mind.

 

 

 

Personal Note: Tax Day 2013 – “The Perfect Storm”

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I don’t know when I’ve felt this unnerved about anything in the recent past. For the first time in 20+ years my husband and I filed a tax extension this year. Our tax filing proved especially challenging because we underestimated our withholding and changed an investment strategy from “pre-tax” to “post-tax”. Additionally, the small company another mom and myself started two years ago miraculously turned a “profit”, at least in an accounting sense. These three factors combined to form a staggering tax liability that left me “gasping for air” when I opened my accountant’s email several days ago. I refer to it now as “the perfect storm” both for the shear size of the amount owed and for the way it’s made my stomach churn since learning the news.

I want to cry but I know it’s as useless as “crying over spilt milk”. Plus I don’t want to worry my three kids. Like any kids, they get especially freaked out when mom cries. The thing that bothers me the most is that my kids are the reason I started the company. Several years ago I began worrying – almost to the point of anxiety – over the direction of our country. Deciding that I needed to take action, I started a small company called The Liberty Brand Co. with another concerned mom. We’ve worked tirelessly, without pay, for the last two years because we are devoted to our cause (Liberty’s kids) and convinced of its importance. We’ve funded our enterprise solely through personal savings.  Needless to say, due to the ignorance of accounting principles on my part we show a profit, despite the fact that we’ve spent far more than we’ve taken in. The thing that astounds me the most is that it increased my personal income taxes by more than the “profit” we produced! For all that work, I only made matters worse.

I look at my kids and know I won’t give up but I’m discouraged. I answered “the call” and have tried to steward it faithfully and to the best of my ability. To date I’ve fallen short. I just wonder if these are some of the feelings the founding fathers had when they “mutually pledge(d) to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor ” on a hot July day that was the antithesis of today – “Tax Day”?!